1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a signal flag system for rural delivery mailboxes. More particularly it relates to a mailbox flag system having an automatically lowering mail waiting flag and an automatically raising mail delivered flag operably connected to a front opening mailbox door.
2. Background Art
A common method of rural delivery mail service involves the use of mailboxes located at roadside for use by a postman on a motor carrier route. In rural areas, houses are often set back substantial distances from the road, and as a result, walking the length of a driveway to check a mailbox to see if mail has been delivered can be a considerable inconvenience, especially for the elderly or infirm, or during inclement weather. As a result, it is a common practice for people living in rural areas to watch for the mail carrier every day to see whether he or she opens the mailbox to insert delivered mail.
Postal regulations generally require mailboxes openable from the front, or roadside, hinged at the bottom and opening downward. Red mail waiting flags are provided which can be elevated by the resident to indicate mail waiting for pickup by the mail carrier, but mail delivered flags are not permitted unless they function automatically since postal regulations provide that the mailman will not operate them manually.
It would be very convenient for the resident to provide a mailbox which has an automatic mail delivered flag system to indicate when the postman opens the mail door to insert delivered mail. A great deal of work has been done in this field in an attempt to develop a mail delivered flag system which will function effectively and reliably for an extended term of years and in inclement weather conditions.
Numerous devices have been developed and patented, but most of them require some sort of a spring loaded triggering device for proper operation. Examples include those taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,794,240, to Myers, 4,685,612, to Rascov and 4,706,880 to Peters. While these devices, when new, may function, they all suffer from the same design defect, the failure of parts caused by corrosion and the deteriorating effects of prolonged exposure to sun and weather over a period of years. As a result, sooner or later, they usually fail requiring the replacement of the parts of the original device, or the entire mailbox assembly.
CHRISMAN, U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,846, represents one of the earlier attempts to provide a mail delivered flag that does not involve the use of the spring loaded triggering devices. Instead it utilizes a mail waiting flag fabricated of a resilient material and a lever arm designed to rotate to a horizontal capture position when the mailbox door is open, and to counter rotate with a captured mail delivered flag to a more vertical position when the door is reshut. While this is a simpler design than the spring loaded trigger systems, it still suffers from the drawback that the resilient material from which the mail delivered flag is fabricated will, over time, become brittle and break, or deform to the point where the mail delivered flag system of Chrisman in no longer captured by the rotating arm.
A recent attempt to solve the problem is taught in KOVACS, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,392, which teaches a pair of flags, one for mail waiting, and the other for mail delivered, each operable by frictional engagement with the flanged edges of a mailbox door. Again, the system operates without the use of a spring loaded triggering device; however, it suffers from the same drawbacks in that the parts are subject to wear, corrosion, and eventual failure because of the environmental conditions. Also, the device taught by Kovacs is easily adapted for retrofit installation on existing mailboxes.
What is needed is an automatic mailbox flag system which will function in any kind of weather and whose operable mechanical systems will function regardless of the deteriorating effects of inclement weather or prolonged exposure to harsh sunlight. In the ideal system the traditionally red painted mail waiting flag can be automatically lowered by the postman when the door is opened and shut, and a yellow or orange mail delivered flag automatically raised.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a mailbox flag system which features an automatically lowered mail waiting flag and an automatically raised mail delivered flag both operably connected to the mailbox door so that when the postman opens and then reshuts the mailbox door, the red mail waiting flag will automatically lower and the yellow mail delivered flag will automatically raise. Another object of this invention is to provide a mailbox flag system which is easily retrofittable to existing mailboxes. A third object is provide a mailbox system wherein the mechanical operation of the system will function in all but the most extreme inclement weather conditions, and whose mechanical function will not deteriorate with the deterioration and corrosion caused by prolonged exposure to sunlight and inclement weather. The final object is to provide a signal flag system which is economical to produce and easy to install.